7 Ways Cold Showers Can Boost Your Productivity

A cold shower will make you more positive in life, increases your self-esteem and gives you more boo...

A cold shower will make you more positive in life, increases your self-esteem and gives you more boost your personal productivity.

Want to experience the benefits of hormesis very directly? Take a cold shower! And don’t just try it once, make it a habit and take cold showers daily. I have been doing it daily for the past six months and am loving it!

Cold showers have been a part of my life for a while now. I got into them as part of several things that I was doing to ‘self-improve’ and to generate more energy and discipline in my life.

As one form of hydrotherapy, the health benefits of cold water therapy are numerous. Cold showers provide a gentle form of stress that leads to thermogenesis (internal generation of body heat), turning on the body’s adaptive repair systems to strengthen immunity, enhance pain and stress tolerance, and ward off depression, overcome chronic fatigue syndrom

Boosts immune system

A study done in England by Professor Vijay Kakkar showed that cold showers increased a person’s disease-fighting white blood cells. A different study from Germany showed that people who took two minute colder showers developed less colds than those who did not.

I’ve always had a strong immune system. I can only remember once instance in my life where I was sick enough to be bedridden for more than a day. But every once in awhile, I do get a little under-the-weather for a couple of days. I can tell when I’m under-the-weather because my phlegm becomes yellow. But since being on my cold shower regimen, my immune system has gone into overdrive. I don’t even get a little under-the-weather anymore. Everyone can be sick around me, including everyone in my house, and I would get out of it 100% fine. But again, correlation does not equal causation, so I can’t be 100 percent sure that the cold showers are the reason for the boost in my immune system, but it sure lends credence to the studies.

Reduces stress

The ability to withstand extreme cold for long periods of time builds physical and mental toughness. As the body and mind become hardened, your ability to fight off stress increases.

From my personal experience, cold showers seem to have a meditative element to it. Sometimes I would stay under the shower head for 10 minutes and let the cold water just come down. After the cold shower, I am rejuvenated and revitalized. I feel a lot better after a cold shower, as if all the tension caused by daily stress that I’ve held in my postural muscles are just gone.

Increases toughness

The reason I started taking cold showers was to increase my mental and physical toughness. The key to toughness is to get used to discomfort—and cold showers are pretty uncomfortable. After taking cold showers for a couple of months, I found that I am able to withstand extreme temperatures a lot better. I am able to withstand cold weather without shivering while only having one layer on, whereas everyone else is wearing 3-4 layers. Although I cannot say without certainty that cold weather makes me more tolerant of pain, it does enable me to withstand discomfort better.

Improved blood circulation

showering with cold water is in going to improve your blood circulation between organs and skin considerably. With cold temperatures, blood flows to your organs for protection to keep them the warmest. Warm water sends the blood rushing to the skin so alternating between cold and hot (as I will detail later) can be a great way of improving your blood circulation. If you are just beginning, it might be best to stick to a cold shower only.

Increased testosterone levels

I’m always looking for healthy and natural ways of increasing my testosterone levels. It’s a boon in the gym, it makes me feel more motivated in general, and manipulating it naturally is the safest long term method I can think of. When I heard that cold showers can vastly increase testosterone production, I was even more thrilled. Not only is testosterone elevated during the shower, but throughout the day as well.

Can improve skin and hair appearance

This is because hot water closes pores and can cause our skin to become drier. Cold water can close the pores on our skin and scalp, and prevent them from becoming clogged.

Can increase general mental strength and alertness

Psychologically, the act of taking a cold shower everyday will condition you to act on things that you know will bring you initial discomfort, but greater reward down the line. Building a habit of taking action despite discomfort is a benefit that can apply to many different areas of your life; I don’t think I have to tell you how important that could be!